Last year's runner-up becomes 2007 spelling champ

The winning word: Mimicking

The winning word: Mimicking

March 11, 2007|By Russ Keen

The Aberdeen girl who a year ago placed second in the American News' Regional Spelling Bee returned to the competitive arena Saturday and captured first place in the 2007 bee. Rebecca Rehberger, 14, an eighth-grader at Trinity Lutheran School, Aberdeen, became champion after correctly spelling the words “reluctant” and “mimicking.” The second place trophy went to Isabella Seaton, an eighth-grader at Simmons Middle School in Aberdeen. When Rehberger and Seaton were the only two contestants remaining for first place, Seaton misspelled “reluctant.” To be named champion, Rehberger needed to spell “reluctant” and one more word correctly. Third place went to Amy Moser of Eureka School. She misspelled the word “curriculum.” Rehberger will receive an all-expense-paid trip from the newspaper to compete in the state spelling bee March 31 in Rapid City. She said she began preparing for the regional bee in October and has been studying the spelling of words since. Rehberger said the 2006 regional champion, Sarah Vander Vorst of Herreid School, encouraged her to study a little bit harder for the 2007 bee. As for Rehberger's performance at the state bee in three weeks, she said, “It's all in God's hands.” The first-place winner at the state level will win an all-expense-paid trip to compete in the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee on May 30-31 in Washington, D.C. Cindy Eikamp, executive editor of the American News, saluted Saturday's contestants for their skills because the bee lasted for 25 rounds before Rehberger captured the top prize. That's probably the most rounds in the 15 years the American News has sponsored the bee, Eikamp said. Fifteen students from eight area towns competed Saturday. Some of the words they misspelled: chinchilla, mohair, eulogy, patriarch, gorgeous and prosaic. Rehberger, Seaton and Moser also received savings bonds from area banks.